The area lies east of the range of hills that parallel the Atlantic coast and north of the Kalahari Desert reaching up as far as the rainforests of the Congo.

The Angolian miombo woodlands has a tropical climate, wetter than the surrounding savanna, with most of the rain falling in the hotter summer months (November–March).

Before the Angolan Civil War in the 1970s the area was home to large populations of elephants and black rhinoceros but these have almost completely been removed, mainly by poachers.

Following rains the following can be found in the wetlands: greater swamp-warbler (Acrocephalus rufescens), African yellow warbler (Iduna natalensis), chirping cisticola (Cisticola pipiens), Bocage's weaver (Ploceus temporalis), saddle-billed stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis), marabou stork (Leptoptilos crumeniferus), Goliath heron (Ardea goliath), and wattled crane (Bugeranus carunculatus).

The intense and long-lasting Angolan Civil War from 1975 to 2002 caused immense damage to this environment, leaving the forests exposed to poaching and uncontrolled clearance, and conservation became a low priority for the government.